Skin taken from 46-year-old brain-dead man in Telangana marks rare milestone in organ donation

On September 15, 46-year-old Bidimatta Murgender Swamy lost control of his two-wheeler and fell near Sadashivpet village in Sangareddy district. His family rushed him to the Government Hospital in Sadashivpet, and the following day, on September 16, he was transferred to Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad for advanced treatment.

Though he was provided 48 hours of intensive treatment, Murgender showed no sign of improvement and was declared brain dead on the morning of September 18. During this period, coordinators from the Telangana government’s Jeevandan Programme offered grief counselling to his family, after which his wife consented to organ donation.

The donated organs included two kidneys, a liver, and, a rarity, the skin. “This is only the third instance where skin has been harvested from a brain-dead donor. Additionally, skin has been harvested from 13 other individuals died of cardiac arrest,” said Bhanu Chandra, senior transplant coordinator for the Jeevandan Programme. Dr. Bhanu is posted at Osmania General Hospital, home to Telangana’s only skin bank, which was established in 2021.

Skin from a brain-dead donor is harvested from the lower limbs and back. After organs such as the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs are retrieved, the skin is the final organ to be harvested, explained Dr. Bhanu. In cases of cardiac death, skin can still be harvested, but it must be done within 10 hours of death.

“Whenever we counsel families of brain-dead patients for organ donation, we also discuss the possibility of donating corneas and skin. While the internal organs are harvested and the body is sutured before being handed over to the family, in cases of skin donation, the body is bandaged before being returned. This bandaging can cause hesitation, as families may worry about the appearance of the body during the funeral,” said Dr. Bhanu

After being harvested, the skin undergoes a process to be transformed into a mesh, which can then be used to treat individuals with burn injuries. Once converted into mesh, the skin can be stored in the bank for four to five years. “Many people are waiting for skin donations, as it can be grafted onto various parts of the recipient’s body,” Dr. Bhanu added.